Athens market rises, Milan stalled

(ANSA) - Milan, August 6 - After three days of weakness, the Athens Stock Exchange finally saw a recovery on Thursday, gaining 3.6% while most other European indices were weaker.
    The Athens exchange had lost about 19% of its value in the first three days of this week, pulled lower by bank stocks as the index reopened Monday after being closed for five weeks.
    Meanwhile, expectations of interest rate increases in the United States and by the Bank of England later this year pulled lower some other European indices.
    Concerns over unemployment claims data in the US also weighed on some markets, including Milan's FTSE MIB which by late Thursday was down by 0.1%.
    Milan was also pulled lower by Mediaset, Telecom Italia, and Intesa SanPaolo.